A Middle Passage
by Dagda's Banshee
Summary: Four teenagers that could not be more different are brought into Middle Earth: Tia; punk-goth and math whiz. Ithilfea; fantasynerd with a flair for foriegn languages. Daemon; goth-stray and overly street-smart; Jon(Sorry, still working on this last one)
1. Tianna

Chapter 1  
  
The rain lashed hard on the windows at Wind Dale High. Tianna Beth Winters stared out the window of her language arts class room, watching the sea gulls wheel around the football field which was slowly turning into a mud hole. She grinned  
  
sardonically, from her fifth period class, she would have a perfect view of the PE class trying to play football. No one would guess that this small, punk-goth sophomore was possibly the best computer/math whiz in the school. With blue-gray eyes, hip length brown hair, and a petite  
  
nose, she could have been beautiful if she tried. However, her long bangs fell into her eyes, hiding whatever emotion she showed, and her outfits consisted of black shirts, black jeans, and black combat boots. When asked, she would explain that she refrained from the white face paint because it was to hard to get out of her hair. Brilliant, Gothic, short tempered and a brown belt. Needless to say, people avoided her in the halls.  
  
The ringing of the bell jerked Tia back into reality. She smirked as the last minute stragglers came charging into the classroom. Comforted that the teacher had yet to arrive, the kids sat down, earning ugly looks from the nerds. Ignoring the chatter of the other students, Tia took out her homework (due next class period, of course) and got started.  
  
Five minutes into the declension of French nouns, the door swung open, admitting a short, skinny, hawk-nosed, woman; one of the school's regular substitutes. Tia went back to work on her French grammar.  
  
"Good morning class, I am Mrs. Hues. Your teacher was unable to make it today, but has left a list of assignments for you to do. You have to finish your grammar assignment and turn it in, and then read The Fellowship of the Ring. Those who do not follow instructions will join the detention program following school." Nobody moved. "Get started!"  
  
Tia sighed along with the rest of the class as she reached into her backpack for her copy of the book. Since it was a present from her parents a year back, it was in a lot better shape than that of many of her classmates. The leather bound cover marked it as old, as did the pages which were yellowed with age. Pulling it from her backpack, she swore under her breath; a corner of the cover's jacket caught on the zipper of her backpack. Swearing quietly, she continued to yank on the book. Finally freeing it, she sat up to see the substitute standing over her.  
  
* * *   
  
Tia had never been so furious. The sensible part of herself reminded her that in part, it had been her fault. She did not have to antagonize the sub, she could have sat through the tirade of how it was wrong to swear (even though the sub did it several times in the lecture) or the accusations of doing French homework in class, but no, she had to roll her eyes. She hadn't even realized she had done so. But the sub noticed, and exploded. So now, sitting in the front of the room, her French homework shredded and in the trash, and nothing better to look forward to after school than detention, Tia once again turned to the cover of her book. Folding the corner of the cover so it would be easier to fix, a small, folded up sheet of paper slipped out. Stuffing it in her pocket for later, Tianna Winters proceeded to read her book. 


	2. Ithilfea

Jane Marie Smith stared at the ceiling tiles of her language arts classroom, wishing the  
  
rain would stop. She had plans for this afternoon; there was a fantasy fan club meeting after  
  
school. Problem was, she would have to walk home afterwards; something she really didn't want  
  
to do. She closed her eyes. Reopening them, she surveyed the class from behind her glasses. Her  
  
eyes fell upon the mirror in the corner of the classroom, sending back her image. Her honey-  
  
brown pixie cut was in need of a trim; the back was starting to grow out again. She was the  
  
picture of a fantasy nerd, maroon peasant top, tight blue jeans, and brown leather boots with  
  
archer braces to match. Her green eyes sparkled with subdued mischief and intelligence, her  
  
skinny shoulders brought out her pointed chin, and, while slightly flat-chested, she was quite  
  
pretty.   
  
The final bell called the last of the students into the classroom. Jane Marie glared at the  
  
new students, glad to see the look of surprise on their faces at being challenged by a 5' 2" nerd.  
  
One though, with slate gray eyes, held her gaze long enough to make her break eye contact. Eyes  
  
downcast as he walked by, she noted the ankle length leather boots with silver buckles. Once he  
  
passed, she turned to see the rest of his outfit.   
  
Black leather trench coat, black jeans; had she caved to a punk? She shuddered at the  
  
thought. His hair looked that way, long and a shade of navy blue that verged on black, pulled  
  
back into a ponytail that reached half way down his back. As he turned to sit down, a flash of  
  
green drew her attention to his shirt. It was a deep forest green, almost something one would  
  
wear to a formal occasion. In fact, Jane Marie thought to herself, lose the weird hair and the  
  
trench coat, he could be any of the people she hung out with at the fantasy fan club. Pushing him  
  
from her thoughts, she picked up the paper she had been writing for the club meeting. Surveying  
  
it, she nodded her approval. Completely in Elvish, it described the plot of her favorite book of all  
  
time, The Fellowship of the Ring. There was only one thing left to do on it; she signed her  
  
Elvish name; Ithilfea.  
  
Jane Marie hated her name. It was so plain, so boring. Like her. So she changed it,  
  
changed it to something unusual, different. Something that described who she was under the  
  
fantasy nerd coating.  
  
* * *  
  
Five minutes had passed, as well as the introduction of their sub, when a small bomb  
  
exploded. Looking up from Bilbo's farewell, Ithilfea was pleased to see the teacher haraging one  
  
of the Goths. She was even more pleased to discover that it was Tianna; one she personally  
  
despised. Grinning, she slipped the piece of paper that slid out of her old leather bound book into  
  
her pocket, not noticing the flash of gold as the book was pushed aside. 


End file.
